Research On The Mechanism Of The Enhancement And The Evaluation Of R & D Capability Of High-tech Enterprises Motivated By Standardization

With the rapid development of information technology and the worldwide trend in the integration of technical standards and intellectual property right (IPR), technical standards has become a"commanding height"in high-tech industries and has changed the traditional modes of high-tech enterprises (HTEs) to attempt to take control of market places through market strategies and technology strategies, therefore standardization has turned out to be a crucial strategic tool to win competitions for HTEs. For a long time, domestic and abroad scholars have conducted abundant research into R&D activities of enterprises, however, research findings in R&D activities of HTEs within the context of standardization are quite limited. Moreover, technical standards are involved in national economic sovereignty, especially in economies like China, and the lack of independent IPR of core technologies has led to the absence of Chinese HTEs in international standardization negotiations. So for the aims of enhancing enterprises'R&D capability and national independent innovation capability, it is of important practical significance to research the new characteristics and regulations of R&D activities of HTEs within the context of standardization.From a standardization perspective, this dissertation takes R&D capability of HTEs as the focus of research, systematically exploring the mechanism of the enhancement and the evaluation of R&D capability of HTEs motivated by standardization. It can assist Chinese enterprises to participate in future proactive standardization negotiations and provides a theoretical basis for domestic Chinese enterprises to break the international monopoly of key technologies and the predicament arising from technological'low-end lock-in'. The main contents of the dissertation are as follows:Firstly, relationships between standardization and R&D capability of HTEs are analyzed, and three core components of R&D capability of HTEs motivated by standardization are proposed for the first time - namely R&D strategy capability, internal R&D capability and external cooperative R&D capability. It points out standardization has raised particular requirements in strategies and technologies for HTEs'R&D, while traditional compositions of R&D capability of HTEs are far from meeting these requests, therefore the R&D capability of HTEs motivated by standardization needs to launch enhancement activities mainly focusing on the three elements. Furthermore, it elucidates the roles of these three core elements in standardization, indicating an intensive study is needed to probe into the enhancement mechanism of the above three components in order to achieve standardization.Secondly, around the three core elements of R&D capability, interdisciplinary theories and methodologies are comprehensively applied to thoroughly and systemically study the mechanisms of enhancing the R&D capability of HTEs motivated by standardization.R&D strategy capability operates at the macro-strategy level of enterprises that guides the development of internal R&D capability and external cooperative R&D capability. By analyzing technological compatibility selection capability, patent goals selection capability as well as patent information search and analysis capability, key activities to decide R&D strategies are identified; via developing a hybrid R&D game model and then discussing capability for selection and investment of R&D projects portfolios, the optimal planning of R&D investment is examined.Internal R&D capability is the utmost core and fundamental capability for developing technical standards and acts as a cornerstone for the formation of external cooperative R&D capability. The key to develop technical standards is to acquire core technologies and knowledge, thus by developing a R&D race model, it examines the most favorable level of investment toward internal R&D for HTEs when they pursue the IPR of core technologies, and moreover it demonstrates essentials for establishing internal R&D networks of HTEs. Furthermore, taking account of the characteristics of developing technical standards, the importance of internal R&D modularization as well as the fundamentals of modularization design are analyzed, and it proposes five traits that need to be fostered for the leaders of R&D teams in standards-setting.External cooperative R&D capability benefits the diffusion of technical standards, and the key to its enhancement is to select, cooperate and manage potential partners. As to selecting partners, the criteria of partners selection are suggested, and by developing a game model, it provides reference for dominators in standardization in order to form the most advantageous cooperative relationships. Regarding to engaging with users, the focal points are to clarify users and understand the essentials of cooperation with users during standards development. With respect to managing networks, it is important to play roles in external cooperative R&D networks that are linked by technical standards as R&D networks managers.Thirdly, an index system of benchmarking for evaluating R&D capability of HTEs motivated by standardization is built. According to the three core elements of R&D capability and their enhancement mechanism, referring to prior research results and in the light of the rules of designing an index system, the index system of benchmarking of R&D capability of HTEs which embraces four index families is developed: one for R&D strategy capability, one for internal R&D capability, one for external cooperative R&D capability and the last one for enhanced R&D capability. For HTEs, this index system of benchmarking can not only contribute to identifying and discovering the deficiency of their own R&D capability, but also direct them to adopt corresponding proper enhancement measures to improve R&D capability.Finally, a detailed case study is carried out with ZTE, a typical domestic HTE in the industry of information and communication and active in the fields of standardization and R&D, as the research object. By investigating ZTE's activities and its external upstream and downstream enterprises, it measures ZTE's R&D capability; meantime, an intensive exploration into ZTE's R&D capability driven by standardization is undertaken from three layers (namely R&D strategy capability, internal R&D capability and external cooperative R&D capability), and it endeavors to discover its specific successful experience and practices. This case study attempts to verify the proposed three main elements and the mechanism of their enhancement as well as the rationality and validity of the evaluation indexes developed in this dissertation. Further, based on summing up insights gained from the case study, some policy suggestions for facilitating the enhancement of HTEs'R&D capability are put forward.